Social+Studies+Strategies

Primary sources create student interest and provoke student questions. Providing students with a list of prompts that they can ask of any primary source is an effective method of promoting analysis of primary sources. The acronym APPARTS (Author, Place and Time, Prior Knowledge, Audience, Reason, The Main Idea, and Significance) provides prompts that assists students in gaining a fuller understanding of primary sources. Listed below are several questions that correspond to this method.
 * APPARTS**

**APPARTS** Generally the APPARTS method is a solid document analysis tool for students in grades 7-12. Teachers can introduce the following and encourage students to use this method when analyzing primary sources. This is an extension of the SOAPS method.
 * **A**uthor - Who created the source? What is their point of view?
 * **P**lace and Time -Where and when was the source produced?
 * **P**rior Knowledge - What do you already know that would further your understanding of this sources?
 * **A**udience - For whom was the source created? Does this affect the reliability of the source?
 * **R**eason - Why was this source produced at the time is was produced?
 * **T**he Main Idea - What is the source trying to convey?
 * **Significance** - Why is this source important?

Documentation:
 * 1) "Improving Student Comprehension: Primary Sources," **The AP Vertical Teams Guide for Social Studies**. The College Board (2001): 15-17.

** SOAPS STRATEGY ** aka: Sopass(tone)
 * SPEAKER**: Voice/narrator, may not be opinion of author


 * OCCASION**: Time/place of piece, environment of ideas, current situation, events that prompted writer, motivation
 * AUDIENCE**: Group of people interested and to whom text is directed


 * PURPOSE**: What audience should learn. The reason behind the text.


 * SUBJECT**: General topic/content ideas


 * STYLE**: Individuality of author’s words, sentence structure


 * TONE**: Attitude of author